Lemon Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

We had a birthday party for my husband last night, and I tried out a new stuffed mushroom recipe.  It was inspired by this Paula Deen recipe.
LEMON BACON STUFFED MUSHROOMS
24 mushrooms (finely chop the stems and leave the cap for stuffing)
8 slices of bacon
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. chives or green onions (I used dried chives)
1/2 tsp. Cinco Pepper Blend
1 tbsp. 3 Onion dip mix
1 pkg. cream cheese
2 tsp. dijon mustard
zest of 1 lemon

Cook bacon and then remove from pan and drain off grease.  Chop bacon into small pieces.  Add butter and mushroom stems to the pan.  Sauté until softened, then add crumbled bacon and remaining ingredients.  Heat till melted, then scoop the mixture into mushroom caps and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.  (You'll probably have some filling leftover, so you could do another 6-8 mushroom caps if you wanted.)

These were sooooo good - just a little bit spicy, with a zing of lemon to cut through the rich cheese & bacon flavour.  I think this would make a great base for a pasta sauce as well!  I'll have to try that out next time.